“These things I have spoken to you in parables, but the hour is coming when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will announce to you plainly concerning the Father.” - John 16:25
Kempton New Church

Week 7
Day 2

    Listen:

Resurrection

Jesus says to her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, thinking it was the gardener, says to Him, Lord, if thou hast carried Him away from here, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away. Jesus says to her, Mary. She, turning, says to Him, Rabboni, which is to say, Teacher. (John 20:15-16)

Grief and Comfort

In the evening, weeping may pass the night,
But in the morning, there is singing aloud.
To Thee, O Jehovah did I call;
And unto Jehovah I made supplication.
Hear, O Jehovah, and be gracious to me;
O Jehovah, be Thou a helper for me.
Thou hast turned for me my wailing to dancing;
Thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness,
So that glory may sing Thee psalms, and not be still;
O Jehovah, my God, to eternity I will confess Thee.
Psalm 30:5, 8, 10-12

Weeping belongs to sorrow, and also to love, and is the highest degree of each of them. AC 3801

“Weeping” signifies the last farewell, and therefore it was customary to weep for the dead when they were buried, although it was known that only the dead body was rejected by burial, and that they who had been in the body were alive in respect to their interiors. AC 4565

In both weeping and in the shedding of tears, water comes forth which is bitter and astringent, and this occurs through an influx into a person’s grief from the spiritual world, where bitter water corresponds to the lack of truth because of falsities, and to consequent grief.... AE 484:3

Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, and believe in Me. In My Father’s house are many abodes; and if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. John 14:1-4

Fear of Dying

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
One thing I have desired from the Lord;
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to visit in His temple in the morning.
Psalm 27:1, 4, 5

On that earth [Jupiter] they do not fear death, except on account of leaving their consort, their children, or their parents; for they know that they will live after death, and that they do not go out of life, because they go into heaven; and therefore they do not speak of dying, but of being heaven-made. AC 8850

To be unwilling to die for the sake of one’s children is natural both with the good and the evil.... SD 1236

Whatever a person loves, that he fears to lose, and therefore in disease when death is imminent, it can especially be known what he has loved, or what have been his ends during his life. Thus, if he sought after honors and placed his delight in them, he then very greatly fears death, and on his death-bed he also speaks of the things from which he had delight, so that he does not abstain from these affairs, being still devoted to himself.... Whereas he who cares nothing about such matters and regards them as of no account thinks only of eternal salvation, and esteems other things as utterly valueless and thus not worthy of mention, even though they be the whole world. SD 1235

Comments and Questions
  1. Is it helpful to know that even the wise ancients, who knew well that a person is still alive when the body dies, still had the custom of weeping, as “a last farewell”?
  2. AE 484 indicates that grief comes, at least partly, due to falsities causing a lack of truth, and this is what produces tears. What might be some falsities that would cause such grief and bitter tears?
  3. John 14 is part of the Lord’s farewell to His disciples on the eve of His arrest and crucifixion. We see the purpose for which He came and for which He was willing to lay down His life so beautifully expressed here. Does thinking about the Lord’s own willingness to lay down His life help us contemplate our own passing?
  4. Would it be useful for us, too, to use the language of the people of Jupiter, and speak of people being “heaven-made” instead of “dying”?
  5. SD 1235 indicates some qualities that make someone more or less afraid of death. These qualities are cultivated all through life. Can we prepare ourselves for a peaceful, “good death”?
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